Our belong group is on a journey through the book of Daniel. One of the things that keeps coming back to me has to do with an enemy that we can easily fall for: comfort.

Daniel was taken away from home and relocated to Babylon. Once there, he was imprisoned in a place where they teach languages and philosophy and offered all the food the king himself would have eaten.

Wait. What? No work, just learning and expanding my mind and eating really good food? Sign me up!

But Daniel (and his three friends) saw through this: They saw an opportunity to point to God by denying their comfort.

Move From Your Comfort Zone

While we are not likely to be physically carried off to a foreign land, we are offered a choice of a king’s food or The King’s Food. The world would say that we should put our comfort first, make ourselves at home and not sacrifice for those around us, especially those who won’t appreciate it. But look what happens when we feast on The King’s Food in Daniel 1:15; 19-20:

“At the end of the ten days, Daniel and his three friends looked healthier and better nourished than the young men who had been eating the food assigned by the king. The king talked with them, and no one impressed him as much as Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. So they entered the royal service. Whenever the king consulted them in any matter requiring wisdom and balanced judgment, he found them ten times more capable than any of the magicians and enchanters in his entire kingdom.”

Feasting on God’s word and sharing the truth with others, even when it is not in our comfort zone, is the best way to fight the enemy of comfort. Loving God through obedience and loving others through sacrifice is truly the way to point an unbelieving world back to our Creator.

Comfort as a priority is an enemy to the missional life. Fight this enemy by letting His light shine through you!

On Mission,

~Michelle Negron